Constructing a good argument
At its core, an argument consists of a conclusion and one or more premises, or claims.
- The conclusion is what the communicator wants his or her audience to accept.
- The premises are the reasons for believing the conclusion to be true.
1.57K
14.2K reads
CURATED FROM
IDEAS CURATED BY
The idea is part of this collection:
Learn more about communication with this collection
How to prioritize self-care in the workplace
How to adapt to new work arrangements
How to maintain work-life balance
Related collections
Similar ideas to Constructing a good argument
Structure of a well-formed argument
It does not use reasons that contradict each other, contradict the conclusion or explicitly or implicitly assumes the truth of the conclusion. Checklist:
- Does the communication include at least one reason to support the conclusion as being true? If not, it is not an...
Making your own argument stronger
- Structure: Explicitly call out your conclusion and the supporting reasons.
- Relevance: Ensure that all materials you’re presenting as part of your argument are relevant.
- Acceptability: Soften any absolute claims to make them more acceptable. (e.g. “most p...
The "counterexample method"
While the premises may be true in an argument, the conclusion may or may not be correct, making the argument invalid. Example of an incorrect argument: Some New Yorkers are rude, some of them are artists, therefore some artists are rude.
A counterexample method is...
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates